World of Warcast
World of Warcast is one of the longest-running podcasts dedicated to World of Warcraft, with its inaugural episode airing July 2, 2004. Its format is information-based and covers news and feature segments on a variety of World of Warcraft topics, including both game basics and end-game raiding, class features, and technical topics such as discussions about mods. Guests appear on the show occasionally to discuss their own areas of expertise. There are also recurring features, such as the Class Roundtables and Mod of the Cast. The show took a thirteen-month break between episodes 212 and 213 (July 2015 to August 2016), but rebooted and is still going strong. They maintain a website and Discord server (links below) and the show is distributed through iTunes and by RSS feed. The show has been featured on the front page of iTunes and is currently one of the most popular World of Warcraft podcasts, with six-figure downloads for individual episodes. World of Warcast, unlike many gaming podcasts, steers clear of explicit language and topics that would jeopardize a "PG" type rating. The show is typically recorded on and released on Thursdays. About the Hosts Michael Gaines (Starman) is the host of the show and has been since the first episode. He has an Alliance perspective; his main is a human mage who is on the RP server Wyrmrest Accord. He also has played on PvP servers, and for a year ran a human mage on Boulderfist. He has experienced the game to the highest levels and had more of a raiding perspective, but in later years became more of a casual player. He is the editor of the podcast, drawing from a long background in radio. Barbara French (Renata) '''is both the current and a former co-host. She was the second-co-host after Lindyen, from December 2005 through August 2009, and was cohost for episodes 11 through 89. She has a Horde perspective; her mains switch between a troll druid and an orc rogue in a private "vanity plate" guild on Whisperwind. Renata also had a large number of alts on both sides of the fence and brings this breadth of experience to the podcast. Her perspective is more from the viewpoint of a "casual hardcore" gamer. She left the podcast and WoW in late 2009 to concentrate on real-life projects, but returned to the game in March 2016, after rebooting her account to attend the in-game funeral of a friend. A year after the show took its hiatus, Renata convinced Starman to come back together for a one-off show that turned into a full-fledged reboot of the podcast with Episode 213 on August 29, 2016. Former Co-hosts Lindyen was the original co-host of World of Warcast, and was Starman's real life friend. They met every week to record the podcast in Starman's house. Because both Lindyen and Starman played on Whisperwind at the time, it was decided that a joint guild would be formed with the Taverncast podcast and World of Warcast, and it would also be on Whisperwind. However, it was on the horde side so that everyone could start anew. Lindyen left the show after episode 10 (October 9, 2005). For a time, he was co-host of World of Podcast. In episode 104 (July 12, 2010) he returned to World of Warcast as a co-host and continued through episode 127 (November 13, 2012). '''Alachia became the co-host of World of Warcast starting with episode 90 (August 22, 2009) and ending in episode 104 (July 12, 2010). She was the long time host of the podcast WoWCast, a World of Warcaft podcast that focused on the meta aspects of Warcraft, as well as Alchia's personal journey through the game. Alchia had spent most of her time in-game focusing on the Alliance side, playing on the pvp server Boulderfist. Though she had leveled many characters to max level, she eventually decided to focus on her Shaman through Wrath of the Lich King. Alachia left the show after her interest in World of Warcraft waned, and reviews of the podcast became increasing negative. Eric Rice then '''became the co-host in Episode 128 (November 11, 2012), and continued through episode 212 (July 3, 2015), where the pocast then ended for thirteen months. Eric played several different Alliance alts on the Wyrmrest Accord server. History World of Warcast first aired as a podcast in July 2, 2005, with two hosts, Starman and Lindyen. They produced the first ten episodes together until October, 2005, when a dispute between the hosts temporarily closed the show. On December 24, 2005, Starman resurrected World of Warcast with co-host, Renata. They produced their first show together starting with Episode 11 on January 5, 2006. In episode 89 released on August 21, 2009 Renata announced that she would be leaving the show to to focus more on her businesses. Episode 104 brought the Return of Lindyen. The change from Renata to Alachia has shaken of the format and tone of the show which has resulted is negative feedback as well as poor reviews. Alachia stepped aside in the interest of the show. Eric Rice took over from Lindyen with Episode 128 and continued through episode 212, when the show closed. At the time, Michael thought the closure was permanent. The show took a break between Episode 212 (July 3, 2015) and Episode 213 (August 29, 2016), when Renata returned to the co-hosting chair. Family issues for Renata in late 2016 and early 2017 has led to some guest co-hosts filling the second spot from time to time. '''Co-Host History Timeline: *1-10 Lindyen *11-89 Renata *90-104 Alachia *104-127 Lindyen *128-212 Eric Rice *213- Renata Participation in the "Second Skin" project On March 15, 2007, Pure West Documentaries filmed Starman and Renata's first in-person meeting at Starman's home in New Jersey. They also filmed the two hosts recording Episode 37 of World of Warcast, as well as some other segments for inclusion in their documentary about virtual worlds, Second Skin. Unfortunately, only about twenty seconds of filming actually made it to the screen. External links * World of Warcast website * World of Warcast Discord * World of Warcast RSS feed * iTunes direct link * Starman's Blog Category:Community Category:Fan sites Category:Podcasts